Volleyball finally wins an easy one

In a season full of close games, the Penn volleyball team has never been able to breath easily. Constantly fighting to just win, the Quakers waited patiently for a game they could dominate. Against Drexel at the Palestra Friday night, they finally got it. Penn (12-7) shut out the Dragons for its first convincing win of the year. Right from the start, it was clear Penn was going to crush Drexel (10-13). The Quakers jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 7-1 in the first game, and never looked back. This early success was attributed to the Quakers' strong play in the inside. Freshmen Jackie Morris and Sue Sabatino, along with with sophomore Sue Pojedinec, who was filling in for the injured Karen Kinsherf, controlled both sides of the net. Although the three combined for five kills in just the first half of the opening game, it was their presence on defense that turned the tide early. The very first point of the game set a pattern for the entire night. Drexel's Karen Ambrosino fed outside hitter Karen Yantis a perfect set to the right sideline. But because Yantis was too concerned with hitting over two Penn blockers, she muffed her swing and sent the ball crashing out of bounds on the Penn side of the court. 1-0 Penn. After two more points, a similar scenario occurred. This time Drexel's Jen Falk took an Ambrosino set, but instead of hitting the back-right corner while avoiding the Penn blockers, she swung too hard and sent the ball four feet too long. The Quakers had a comfortable 4-0 lead. With the score at 8-2, Drexel coach Scott Pennewill realized his team was in trouble. "Jen, you've got to win that battle in the middle!" he hollered to Falk. Unfortunately for the Dragons, it appeared Falk became more scared than motivated by her coach's words. Immediately following Pennewill's demand, Falk wound up her right arm and sent another ball screaming out of bounds. The next rally concluded with her getting stuffed by Sabatino, and on the next point she hit wide as well. Finally, Penn was not the team making the costly mistakes, and it couldn't have happened in a more appropriate game. "It was parent's weekend and we wanted to get a lot of people in," Penn coach Margaret Feeney said. "Fortunately we were able to use different lineups and we cut down on errors. It was great." After closing out the first game 15-6, the Quakers started off a little bit slower in the second. The game began with five side-outs, and eventually Drexel led 4-3. But again the Quakers took advantage of their size, forcing Drexel into numerous hitting errors. Pojedinec and Sabatino continued to dominate the middle, and were instrumental in helping Penn take game two by a 15-8 score. In the third game, Penn quickly fell behind 5-1, but then Sabatino took over. She won three points in a row for the Quakers, two off blocks of Yantis and Falk and one off a dink. Not only did Sabatino's dominance help Penn win, but, more importantly, it allowed Feeney to do something she hasn't been able to do all season -- take out setter Heather Glick to give sophomore Heather Tillet some much-needed playing time. Although Tillet will be called on to run Penn's offense next year, she had seen very limited playing time because there was never a time when Penn was far enough ahead or behind in a game for Feeney to take out her catalyst. "It was very important to get Heather experience," Feeney said. "I felt like we were being consistent, so we were able to put her in." The game ended appropriately. Drexel's Paola Escobar went for a kill, but Sabatino clogged the middle and blocked it over the net. Ambrosino got the rebound and set it for Escobar again, but Sabatino met her over the net, and stuffed the ball to the floor with two hands. Penn's inside players never let Drexel into the game. "It was finally fun," Feeney said. "Fun and easy."